Prue Leith
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Prudence Margaret Leith OBE (born February 18, 1940) is a restaurateur, caterer, TV cook, broadcaster and cookery writer. She was born in South Africa, with her working life spent mostly in London, England.
In 1960, Prue Leith started a business supplying quality business lunches, which grew to become Leith’s Good Food Limited, with a turnover of £15m in 1995. In 1969 she opened Leith’s, her famous Michelin starred restaurant. In 1975 she founded Leiths School of Food and Wine which trains amateur and professional chefs. She has been a cookery editor and food columnist for newspapers including the Daily Mail, Sunday Express, The Guardian and The Mirror. She currently holds non-executive directorships at Whitbread plc and Woolworths Group plc. She also chairs The Hoxton Apprentice and 3Es Enterprises, and is Chair of the Board of Governors of Ashridge Management College. As well as many cookery books, including Leiths Cookery Bible, she has written three novels, Leaving Patrick, Sisters and A Lovesome Thing, published by Penguin Books.
Leith has received many honours, most notably the OBE in 1989, Veuve Cliquot Business Woman of the Year in 1990, and seven honorary degrees or fellowships from UK universities.
Leith was a judge on the BBC television programme Great British Menu.
In November 2006, Prue Leith was named to head the School Food Trust, the British government's campaign to replace fatty foods with fresh fruit and vegetables in schools [1].
